Amps Atma-Sphere M-60 Mono blocks OTL design


I just purchased a used OTL Atma-Sphere M-60 mono blocks that I have sent to Atma-Sphere to be upgraded to the current model 3.3 and I also added the option of a higher quality power supply and V caps.

I have sold my old trusted Eggleston Andra 2’s speakers and have built some monitors using Aurum Cantus ribbons (102db) and Aurum Cantus midwoofers (90db) that are both rated as 8 ohm nominal. I have a DEQX Premate and will be crossing over to (2) JL Audio F-113 subs at 80hz.

Currently I am using a solid state high power stereo amp (Pass Labs) that I used with the Andra 2’s.

The Atma-Sphere M-60 is rated at 60 watts class A and is said to work better with higher impedance loads.

It will probably be a few weeks until I get the M-60 and was hoping someone could provide opinions of what to expect.

I listen to late 60 early 70’s classic rock music mostly. Sometimes loud.

ozzy

128x128ozzy
Ozzy,
You said the speakers you have built are 8 ohms. Assuming that there are no widely varying impedance dips below 5 or 6 ohms (particularly in the mid to upper bass region) I don’t see the necessity of using the Zero transformers.  Someone above mentioned a 94 dB sensitivity as a cutoff point and I disagree with that.  Zero transformers are used to increase speaker load impedance as seen by the power amplifier.  It has no meaningful bearing on the speaker sensitivity. 
Charles
@ozzy, the M60s are great amps and they should be a super match with your new speakers WITHOUT zero transformers. Congrats. @charles1dad is correct, it's all about the impedance match not about bass (sorry Meghan Trainor!) 

FWIW, IMHE those much praised zeros can cause a greyish, whitish haze over the music that really ruins it for me. I would never make them part of the solution. There are plenty of speakers better suited to OTLs, you shouldn't need them. Cheers,
Spencer
Hi Ozzy,

I took a look at the photos in your system description thread, and also at the very comprehensive technical info provided at the Aurum Cantus site

My first comment is that it looks like you’ve done an extremely impressive job of assembling a very sophisticated system!

It appears that your G1 ribbon tweeter and whichever of the Aurum Cantus mid-woofers you are using have benign impedance characteristics, which don’t descend significantly below their 8 ohm nominal ratings at any frequency, and don’t have highly capacitive phase angles outside of the deep bass region (in the case of the mid-woofers) which they won’t be handling anyway. Also, it looks like the external crossover you’ve built consists of second order LC filters (low pass for the mid-woofer and high pass for the tweeter, of course), with a resistive pot in the high pass section to pad down the tweeter’s sensitivity to match the mid-woofer’s. I don’t see any of that as presenting any problem for the M-60, used without Zeros.

Also, while most of the energy that is contained in most music most of the time will be present at frequencies that will be handled by these drivers, as opposed to the subs (my understanding is that 350 Hz represents a rough rule of thumb for the frequency at which most music most of the time has equal amounts of energy above and below), the 60 watt capability of the M-60 into 8 ohms should get you to peak volume levels in the area of 101 to 104 db or so at a 10 foot listening distance, with a 90 db speaker that can handle that amount of power without significant thermal compression (as appears to be the case here).

Some further points:

While I’m not totally certain, I think it might be worthwhile to re-do the DEQX speaker calibrations once the new amp is in place. I’m envisioning that the interaction between the amp’s 4.1 ohm output impedance and the characteristics of the cross-over/speaker combination might change the results you obtained with the Pass amp, and its near zero output impedance. Although I’m not certain of that, as I said. Fortunately your DIY speakers are not multi-hundred pound monsters, and should be fairly easy to move, if that is necessary to minimize room reflections during that procedure.

Second, keep in mind that the interaction between the 4.1 ohm output impedance of the amp and the 8 ohm speaker impedance will reduce gain by a few db, relative to what you have with the Pass amp, and will require a corresponding rebalancing of the speakers with the subs.

Finally, I note that the frequency response plots for the Aurum Cantus drivers show some significant variations within the frequency ranges they will be handling, such as a rise of more than 5 db in the response of the tweeter in the top octave, and significant rises in the upper mid-range/lower treble responses of many of their mid-woofers. The DEQX should be very helpful in providing whatever corrections may be needed for those variations.

Best of luck. Regards,
-- Al


charles1dad, sbank, almarg,

Thank you so much for the comments and with the information that you have provided. You guys are the greatest and I really appreciate the time and effort provided in your posts.

Some more info.

My final crossover point between the midwoofer and the tweeter is now 2000hz.@ 12db. This is based on trying to match the advantages of both of these drivers. I went to all Mundorf silver, gold, oil caps and Janzten foil inductors. I also ended up using Mundorf extreme resistors with fixed resistors points and not using the variable L-pad. (I will post new pictures in my systems page tonight.).

And, I will redo my DEQX settings once everything is done and burned in a little. I am getting fairly good with the DEQX and have compiled some easier to follow operating instructions than what is provided from DEQX.

Again, thank you for the help.

ozzy

I just posted some more pictures of the DIY speakers and my final external crossover on my systems page.

ozzy